Kansas Klips
KHP names Honorary Trooper
TOPEKA — The Kansas Highway Patrol recently named a citizen as Honorary Trooper. Sean James of Fate, Texas, was honored for his response to a fatality crash on June 6, 2022. While traveling on the Kansas Turnpike north of Emporia, Sean James observed a single vehicle crash in which the driver struck a tree head-on, which caused the vehicle’s engine compartment to burst into flames. James stopped, backed up to the scene and ran to help. He was able to pull three children, ages two, five, and eight, from the vehicle as the fire continued to build. Unfortunately, the children’s mother could not be saved. Prior to EMS arrival, James, who is a Retired Combat Medic, rendered medical aid to the eight-year-old boy who had obtained a life-threatening laceration to his forehead. James later had to be treated at the hospital for smoke inhalation. James’ quick and heroic actions ultimately saved the lives of the three children he pulled from the vehicle. He did not hesitate to assist those in need and put himself in danger to save the lives of others. The Patrol is grateful, and thanks Sean James for the brave actions he performed that day to protect our citizens of Kansas in need. (KHP Media)
Popular TikTok trucker dies in Kansas crash
WICHITA — A well-known trucker with nearly 200,000 TikTok followers died recently in a semi crash west of Colby. Steven Hull Raley, known on TikTok as @pissed_off_trucker, was driving westbound on I-70 when the semi left the roadway to the right, went through the KDOT fence and drove for a quarter mile. The semi turned around back through the fence, crossing eastbound and westbound lanes of I-70, and came to rest in the south ditch. The crash happened 16 miles west of Colby at 1:35 a.m. on July 12. Raley, who was from Alabaster, Ala., was taken to Citizens Medical Center in Colby, where he was pronounced dead. He was 52. According to reports, Raley had posted a TikTok video earlier in the day saying, “All I care about is getting home ... That’s what I care about more than anything else.” He often posted videos documenting his life as a trucker. (KWCH News)
Kansas feedlot workers charged with cattle theft
LARNED — Two men who worked as cowboys at a central Kansas feedlot have been charged with stealing nearly a dozen head of cattle last year. Pawnee County Attorney Doug McNett said that 24-year-old Axel Elian Gomez-Saldana and 42-year-old Ruben Lopez-Lupercio are each charged with felony theft of property worth between $1,500 and $25,000. The pair are accused of stealing 11 heifers. Evidence presented at a preliminary hearing indicated an investigation was opened after a State Cattle Brand Inspector recognized feedlot finished heifers attempting to be sold at the La Crosse sale barn on December 10, 2021. The matter was then referred to the Attorney General’s Livestock/Brand investigation unit, which determined some of the heifers were branded with a brand registered to a Pawnee County Feedlot. McNett said investigators determined that Lopez-Lupercio and Gomez-Saldana were employed as cowboys at the feedlot near Pawnee Rock. They were arrested without incident at the feedlot on January 6 after the feedlot ownership requested charges be pressed. Both men are scheduled for arraignment on September 15. (SalinaPost.com)
Hays school board reconsiders ban on satanic clothing after complaint
HAYS — Members of the Hays school board requested a change to the Hays elementary and middle school dress codes after a parent complained about a ban on clothing promoting satanism. A mother of three students in Hays public schools, Mary Turner addressed the board at its recent meeting. She said she is a longtime member of the Satanic Temple. “I raise my children according to the seven tenants of satanism, and while children of other faiths can wear clothing that declares their family’s religion,” she said, “my family’s faith is specifically called out and banned in the school handbook dress code.” The Satanic Temple has been a federally recognized church for many years, Turner said. Later in the meeting, the school board took up second reading of the student handbooks in question. There is no explicit ban on satanic clothing in the Hays High School handbook. It is specifically banned in the elementary and middle school handbooks. It was agreed to take the dress code policies back to the administration and rework them. The handbooks will come back before the board during their retreat meeting on Friday, Aug. 5. (HaysPost.com)
